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| What are rss, xml and podcasts? Lee Hopkins answers... |
What are 'RSS', 'XML' and 'podcast'?
Once you get started, it's like having your favorite parts of the Web come to you. No need to go out and check for updates all the time.
No more bookmarks and no more SPAM!
If you've been seeing orange RSS or XML buttons on more and more websites, but you've not known what they were for, here's the 'inside' scoop...
Wow!
It's "the next big thing". If you thought email was important to you, wait 'til you discover the importance of RSS (also known as XML)...
RSS will be the most important web development of 2005!
We are going to use it on this site to update you on when we add new stuff like what's happening at the church, or updates on the mission team, and so on.
You can use it to get newsfeeds from CNN or BBC, as well as just about anything else, including news on upcoming movies, DVD releases, your favorite band's tour updates (I'm going to attempt to get Ruxspin thinking about a blog and an RSS feed), etc.
Once you get started, it's like having your favorite parts of the Web come to you. No need to go out and check for updates all the time.
No more bookmarks and no more SPAM!
"RSS" means "Really Simple Syndication." But that is just a fancy way of saying that you can keep up with all the updates to this website without having to check the site every week to see "what's new." Whenever I put up a new page ("BRAND NEW") or update an old one ("UPDATE"), I release it through RSS. And...
Yes, RSS is amazing. If you can't tell, I'm completely addicted to it. No e-mail. No spam. It's so easy to subscribe and unsubscribe. If you get tired of me, you just have to delete the feed. It's awesome!
And once you start, you'll soon be tracking all your other favorite interests and news in the world.
How do you get started? Easy!
Download free RSS Reader first. This is special software that reads the "RSS feeds" from the largest news organizations right down to this site...
Windows -- BlogExpress
http://www.usablelabs.com/productBlogExpress.html
Mac -- NetNewsWire
http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/
Once you're set up, here's all you have to do...
Right-click ( control-click for Mac users) on any orange RSS button on a site, blog or news source that interests you. Start by right-clicking on the orange button below. Then...
Select Copy Shortcut ("Copy Link to Clipboard" for Mac), and paste that URL into your RSS Reader.
And that's it! You're subscribed.
Right-click and get started 
So what's a 'podcast', then?
A 'podcast' is a sound file made available for broadcasting via the internet. Podcasting is the term you have most probably heard in the mainstream media.
Podcasting involves the online posting of sound files, in the particular format of 'mp3'.
So, you can download this week's Word from God in the Worship service and listen to it in the comfort of your own office, on your laptop, or from a digital music player (like an iPod or other mp3 player).
Of course, it is not the recording that is the most important part of the 'new' medium of podcasting; it is the use of RSS technology that makes mp3 recordings now so exciting as a business communication medium.
The ability for software to automatically 'catch' a broadcast and store it on your computer (and you can even automatically transfer it to your mp3 player) overnight, while you sleep, is what makes mp3 recordings and RSS (or XML) such a winning combination.
If you use podcatching software like iPodder or DopplerRadio (both free) you can download the file automatically into your podcatcher. You can subscribe to the Worship service podcast by right-clicking on the following link, selecting 'Copy Shortcut' and pasting the link right into your podcatcher.
The link to subscribe to our podcast:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/sfc-podcast
(you can right-click on the image, if you like, and copy the link)
Please also avail yourself of some other great podcasts (below) and many more available at directories such as PodcastAlley and DigitalPodcast.
In these directories (and there are more directories being built every week), you'll find a dizzying array of podcasts you can subscribe to. There's podcasts on beer, on wine, on food, on hobbies, on movies, on music, on politics and, of course, on podcasting itself.
Pretty soon you'll be able to find a podcast on exactly your subject of interest (which is what makes podcasts so exciting as a niche communication tool).
And if you can't find what you are looking for, why not 'brew your own'? Audacity is free software that allows you to create your own mp3 file for publishing your ideas. I use and can highly recommend it.
Happy RSSing and podcasting!
